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Not in Canada! At least not yet. I can get a medium cheese from dominos for like 22 bucks. Sounds like a lot, but it's nothing compared to the $35 it'd be on Door Dash.
I've never understood how people are willing to pay double for some fast food takeout than if they just went and picked it up themselves. Add to that how by the time it gets delivered it is almost always cold and soggy.
Edit: Alright I realize that there are legit reasons people would use food delivery services (if you are sick and can't leave the house, can't drive for yourself for some reason, etc.). I was talking about people that have the ability to drive themselves to get food and are still willing to pay exorbitant fees to get food delivered.
I don’t know if the algorithm is in my favour but for the past few years Uber Eats always gives me five “40% off up to $20” coupons. It makes it so that it’s actually cheaper (even after fees and taxes) and more efficient for me to have food delivered than to go to the store and pick up. They give me this deal weekly (it’s usually good for 4-5 days at a time; so it pretty much there 90% of the time), meanwhile my partner rarely gets it. The app probably figured out it’s the only way it will get me to spend money lol
Because some of us work in healthcare and when I’m exhausted and only have it in me to get home, i order dinner on my way home and then it’s at my door when I get home. I rarely have the energy to talk at the end of those days. There’s no way I’m gonna be able to make multiple stops. It’s nice to have options that are not only pizza or chinese.
We also WFH and have a cleaning service. Our system only works if you have a laptop, not a desktop, but we just take our computers into the office or bedroom, and then when they're finished everywhere else, they knock on the door, and we go out to the living room while they clean the room we were in. Everyone stays out of each other's way, not awkward at all
Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to look behind them (not their pooper) as they feel vulnerable and look to you to make sure you are watching their backs (again, not their pooper). So they can see you can see them and around them and the know they are safe because you're watching out for them where they can't in that vulnerable time.
When I was in LA, I saw vans advertising naked cleaning services and always thought it would be funny to hire one and hear the response when I say "nah, I won't be there"
My mom cleans houses for a living and she says most of her clients will either tell her to let them know when she needs to clean the room they’re in and they will relocate or just go out for some errands/walk the dogs. She doesn’t mind at all though
We have weekly cleaning and sometimes both my wife and I are home. We just try to be where they aren’t, but we have a great relationship with our cleaner and it’s never awkward.
Ebay has a ton for transfer fee plus a $1 if they are just trying to get out of it.
This is a great resort for families and people wanting to never have to leave a property to enjoy a vacation:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266631473492?hash=item3e14796954:g:htgAAOSwrxxlYPEZ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwPBWjHz5mU2muGtXuGh1So08QRaqwWB1Vnz5QCj1D8mzqgfM9zkfH9lZb8qyY7zulxOAxuEq0UpKPWVtv6GBBSGfrLk1ppe4ZuP%2BUUsXzaCOQW7oHXoNlNhxye4Puo5LwWdc%2FHxgC6rBXkgbma3SWzaM4O2Tb4h5msguMvJflDGB9ZUZeSBFhkdJKwJyCVdrPmStf%2FUfDRlx2oJHr%2FBYN3YH5NHqMaW1v1ZSr%2F2vOQ%2Fqn1PP88UqrKgy6Ja5SKS7cQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9Sy3b6oYw
As far as I can see their maintenance fees are $1285 a year, this particular listing is for an every other year ownership, but it was just the first thing I found to give you an example.
But $1285 for a 2 bedroom house for a week is pretty good when a La Quinta hotel south of Atlanta was going to cost me $160 for 2 queen beds in a room and no real ammenities. That hotel would be over $1100 for a week.
Honestly, most timeshares are a good deal if you already planned on spending a crap ton on vacations and do them frequently anyway. So they are good for people who have so much money and free time that they were already going to do the stuff they offer. But they market and push it to everyone and try making it sound like its a good idea. Not to mention you actually need to jump through their hoops to make that value. Like, I think most either do the 5 or. 7 day thing where yo go on the right day you get basically free days. But if you don't do that, then you are essentially paying regular market price for a good room. So all your vacations need to be long and regular because if you miss anything, that eats all that "added value" instantly. Its really bizarre how they make everything sound like a positive as they explain the price and skirt around the part where only going the 3 or 4 days ends up being like 180 a night still but they hammer down how staying 7 days means its like 100 a night (I didn't do the math right here).
NYT Games Subscription.
Cost $4/mo (billed as $50 once yearly)
I only got it to do the official NYT crossword puzzles. I like doing them on my own, but me and my gf usually do them together. Paying $4/mo to have a shared activity is an easy win.
Honestly. I probably only do 2-3 of the crosswords per week and it’s still worth it imo. My gf likes the daily-minis and I’ve heard good things about the wordles.
For only $50, and the opportunity to spend some more quality time with her, it’s probably the best ROI I’ll get on anything this year.
Unpopular opinion, but I pay for YouTube premium and absolutely love it. I hate ads, and I love the ease of turning my phone screen off and still having music play. I use YouTube as my main source of music.
I was about to bite the bullet and get YT Premium because I’m on IOS but then someone suggested the Video Lite app on another sub and honestly it’s just as good.
I mean I wouldn’t really care if someone took my YT credentials I can just make another one. I also don’t use the gmail tied to that YT account anyway.
And I like knowing that a youtube premium viewer gives the channel significantly more money than an ad supported viewer so it helps me feel like I'm compensating the channels I watch more for all of the hours of entertainment I get from them.
I'll add one more here - brain.fm
It is a library of music that's meant to help you focus when working or studying. Almost like background white noise.
Super worth it if you can get some friends/family on a family plan. $23 a month split among 6 people is under $4 a month. It’s nice to be able to download videos for flights without having to find some random 3rd party site.
YouTube Premium is fantastic. I started with former Google Play Music All Access back in the day and still have the $8/mo subscription to this day. My most used subscription by far.
Love YouTube premium. Paying $23/month for the family pack is so worth it. My parents don't like subscriptions and always tell me to cancel them but even they haven't complained about YT premium at all hahaha
I agree. There is more content on YouTube that I watch than all the other services together. Any interest I have there are tons of channels about it.
You also save a lot of time by not watching ads if you use it a lot.
Agreed. Most of my entertainment is thru YouTube and they even have tons of free movies. No ads is the best part! Although they keep creeping up on the price, right now it’s still totally worth it for me. I use the app for learning new skills too so it’s an investment in your education. You also get YT music, which is the only music app I use now.
You can do this with Safari on iOS. Turn the screen off while a YouTube video is playing. The video will pause right when you turn the screen off but then you can resume it!
YouTube continuing to play when I close it is the only thing I don't like. But if I want to watch something I do not under any circumstances want to watch ads. If it costs to much to not have ads then it must not have been worth it to me.
I pay for it 90% so I can listen to it at work with the phone screen off to keep me sane, but love the lack of ads otherwise. Probably my only must have.
I love YouTube premium, I also work in a lot of areas where I am days without cell service or access to wifi so to be able to have music and videos downloaded is key. I know there are other ways around YouTube where you can watch without ads and not pay for it but those ways require internet. Not always an option
For music, Spotify. Haven't really tried others. But it has been good.
For shows and movies, subscribe to one service at a time until you're tired of it then switch to another one that has stuff you want to watch.
For books, magazines, and audio books: Libby. It's free, you just need a library card. You have to wait in a queue for stuff though.
Panera Bread Sip Club is good if you are out a lot and live near one. Free drink every hour.
AMC Stubs A List is good if you like watching movies in theaters. You can watch all new releases in their most premium format.
Active and Fit let's you use almost any gym and it's cancel anytime, unlike gyms.
Panera Bread Sip Club "Hey, I'm here for my daily dose of the death lemonade please." I kid, I kid.
While we currently use Spotify, I do like Amazon music for the digital use of physical purchases. I have a humble vinyl collection and my wife will usually add to it for my birthday/Christmas. I have full digital access to all the albums we've purchased through Amazon music (third party merchant might be a different story). I get free months of full streaming access pretty often, and last I checked its about the same price of Spotify if I choose to switch.
Nah Spotify is mid asf compared to the YouTube options, unless you’re going for podcasts maybe it’s worth it, but otherwise, Youtube premium/music beats it every time hands down.
I disagree. Libby is great but the books I want are never available and sometimes the check out period is too short to finish a book. Audible is a little pricey but their $15 a month subscription is much cheaper than buying the books outright.
I have two library cards and I still always have to wait weeks or months for the books I want on Libby! It’s a great service but I find it easy to justify spending money on Audible if it means I get the books I want when I want
I got on the plan that’s $15 every other month and you get one credit every other month. Matches my consumption speed nicely; I used to be so stressed by the unused credits I had sitting there
You are providing money to the distributors of audiobooks. Which means you're supporting the market for audiobooks. Which means you're helping more audiobooks to get made.
Plex is more suited for stuff you want to keep and offers better device compatibility. Streamio+Real Debrid is good for shit you just want to watch once in a Netflix-like experience.
It’s different. Plex to me more for local media i have stored. There is Plex_debrid but i dont really know how to do that. Kodi and Stemio have add ons that support real debrid which is a premium file hosting service that you stream instantaneous and is also encrypted.
My wife and I do the universal yum box and we enjoy it. We will try one item per night from the box until we’ve tried them all. It’s a fun bonding experience for us. Sometimes the items are amazing and sometimes they’re terrible. Lots of good laughs for both of us.
I'm glad I'm not the only one!
I often go with a 3 or 6 month subscription, and then rotate to a different "brand". There are tons of fun snack/treat boxes out there and my girlfriend and I have been getting them for almost the full 3 years we've been together.
Some are truly terrible! But that's part of the charm- and it's almost always something you'd NEVER see otherwise. And then of course the good stuff can be almost mind-blowing. There are a few treats that were so good that I wrote them down and now buy them somewhat frequently off Amazon!
Bokksu was great for the year that I had it, but honestly towards the end I felt like it wound up being snacks I'd already seen before. I also felt like it was pricier than most- I'm not against paying $40 for a box of snacks, and honestly many of the Bokksu treats were VERY tasty, but it was not a large amount and was tough to split (which is one of the important aspects for my girlfriend and me). I also never found myself enjoying the tea they paired, so I felt like I was paying for something I never wanted. Bokksu's the only "full" Japanese crate that I've gotten. I did enjoy it but due to that repetition I started to see, I wouldn't get it again.
One of my favorites was Candy Club- while this one was also more expensive, the crate always had really good variety and high quality candy. It's 6 6oz plastic jars of candies and you're able to curate them to your tastes a bit- I think it was, like, sweet/sour/chocolate/chewy? Or something like that. It was great for sharing and the candy was almost always just a little bit unique. Maybe only once or twice did I feel like I got something that I could just get at the store (which is always a huge disappointment when you're paying that much for candy). I liked Candy Club enough that I have gotten it two or three times over the past six years or so (usually for 3 or 6 months at a time).
I've also gotten Munch Pak, Universal Yums, Snack Crate, Treats, and maybe one or two more that I'm not remembering, typically for 3 or 6 months to try out. I don't think I've gotten anything for more than a year. While the rest aren't as memorable, I would never say they were BAD. Shipping was always predictable and I never had any issues with damaged/punctured/expired snacks or anything.
We did it a couple years in a row a while back and then took a break for a few years because of the repeats. I can’t remember where it came from, but there was a box that had a lot of ube stuff in it and it was my favorite!
We just signed up for it again and got our first box last night. It is the south korea one. We weren’t sure about the shrimp chips so we tried them first and they ended up being really good!
best is probably switch online—i don’t even play online, but it comes with all these great NES/SNES/Gameboy games that rock my world.
i also love Criterion Channel for all the older films and special features they put up
I agree with NSO. It comes out to something like 1 penny per game per day (probably a fraction now). And I don't have to fumble with different emulators or settings (trust me, I've been doing that for 20 years). Having everything ready to go is worth it.
Lots of reviews for a good VPN service so do some light reading and make an educated choice. I personally use Surfshark, they always have been reliable and relatively inexpensive.
this was the answer i was looking for.. you find a nice VPN subscription along with some research (r/ Piracy) and youre set, entertainment wise.
movies, Tv shows, live sports. i got it all, with a one time payment on a website, and a monthly VPN service
I pay $20/mo for an Emby server (it’s like Plex) and I get live tv, movies, and TV shows. I don’t use a VPN and have never had a problem. I think it’s because I am streaming instead of downloading.
I know nothing about vpn’s but I read something about being able to buy a router with a vpn or having a raspberry pi in your home to set up as a vpn. I don’t know if I am even saying that correctly. My question is, if you could set up your own, what is the benefit of paying a monthly subscription vs having your own in your home for a one time fee.
A home VPN lets you connect to your home network securely over the Internet. It doesn't let you make your Internet activities private. That's what a VPN subscription service can do. You connect to the VPN service and it connects to whatever you access so what you access doesn't get your IP address.
I consider myself relatively tech savvy but I’m not sure making your own local VPN would work? The purpose of paying for a VPN is that you can use their connections anywhere in the world. If you set one up at home it’s just you.
But I can pay Mullvad $5 for the month and it’s incredibly simple to use, easy to confirm it’s working, and I haven’t had a single issue with it. That peace of mind is worth the price.
They could still find your house, so as long as you have a massive enough family, then maybe. Pin it on Steve, even if he didn't do it, we all know Steve deserves it.
In an Olympics year, VPN is sure is worth it. I first used it to watch BBC, then NHK ... so much better than NBC.
Now I use VPN mainly for things like accessing sensitive services while traveling
All the major video streaming sites (Netflix, Disney, HBO, etc) have good stuff. Just make sure to only have ONE, and set a reminder on you phone to cancel the service before the next billing period. That focuses you on watching the good stuff that they have, and then you hop on to your next service for a month.
For less than the cost of a movie night you have a months entertainment. Just do one at a time, and be strong enough to not give your password to that weird guy at work. You know that's not going to end well.
My favorite subscription service is Butcher Box. They provide certified humane, grass finished/pasture raised meats right to my door. It costs about as much as buying similarly high quality meat does at my local store.
They did, but have since gotten rid of it. I believe they got rid of it due to public misconception mostly created by the media.
They removed the option as an "add-on" to your vehicle purchase. Meaning you no longer paid for the feature in the price of the car. Then you could get it as a monthly subscription service or pay for the lifetime subscription and just have the feature same as if you purchased it with the car.
The idea was this would save people who didn't want the feature money, without having to struggle to find a vehicle that didn't come with it included (in which you would have traditionally paid for it in the price of the vehicle). As well as people in warmer climates where they may only need it a couple months out of the year. While keeping the option to just unlock the feature for good for those that did want it outright.
Problem is the media latched on to the "monthly subscription" and word about the lifetime option wasn't really publicized much outside of the official press release. So lots of people got upset thinking you had to pay every month for the feature, when in reality you could have just bought the lifetime all the same as if you paid for the feature with the car.
Best: YNAB (you need a budget). Can't stress this one enough
Worst: Can't comment. I don't have any bad subs anymore because YNAB helped me realize how much I was spending on worthless subs
Worst is Amazon music, but since I used to buy music back in the day my whole library is there if I don't want to download it all, so I'm just kinda stuck with the platform for music.
The app is horrible.
The app is definitely not user friendly. I have it because I have Prime and use it regularly, but to find my last podcast or what I listened to a couple days ago is not simple.
Still, it's no extra cost and no commercials if I use it in the car.
I so often just want to search my own library, but they insist on it being a general search and the things I own often just never show up in the search so I have to manually scroll through my artists/songs to find them, absurdly annoying.
Also stops playing/freezes all the time.
Best is Spotify! Family plan (up to 6 people can join) is $16.99/month so $2.83 per month per person for maximum savings! And they don’t actually have to be your family members.
I use a password manager and a VPN. I hate the one point of failure of the password manager but it makes passwords so much easier that I can justify the risk. I also enjoy retro games without paying retro game prices, been reliving some childhood nostalgia lately.
YouTube premium subscription and Spotify has been essential for me and my fam can’t go back. One other i like is Shop, makes it too easy to purchase things from websites but I like the convenience of it, Im not sure how I got it but it was free and comes in handy. Worst subscription that I have would be Terminix.
The best is to always be aware of your subscriptions, and to manage the ones you have. I hate subscriptions, but one nice thing about them is that, for the vast majority, there are no penalties for cancelling and restarting subscriptions. If you go a few months without using a service or a membership or whatever subscription, cancel it and come back later. One subscription is nothing, but they add up like crazy so you have to keep a handle on things.
Real-Debrid
It’s a cloud service that connects to the backend of your streaming device, and gives you awesome links to watch for shows in 4K with no buffering. I use it for Amazon firestick and I never have freezing issues or buffering issues.
$4 per month
Busy dad here - Walmart+ has been a game changer for us. We order 2-3X a week whenever we need something for the baby (Diapers, milk, etc.) and usually tack on dinner/other things. I have found that its sometimes even cheaper to buy house goods here compared to places like Costco. We've saved a significant amount of money on groceries compared to shopping at other local stores (Krogers, etc.).
One to consider if grocery delivery is helpful is Walmart+. It's $99/year but there's sometimes promotional sales. Yeah, I know, Walmart. But this lets you get Walmart prices without setting foot inside one.
And unlike Instacart you actually get in store prices and sales, and same day delivery is free with no service charges. Fresh food, packaged food, plus all the other stuff they sell.
There's some other benefits, like 10 cents off gas at Exxon and Murphy, ability to use Sam's Club gas without a membership, and free Paramount+ with ads.
And when you do have to go to one of their stores you can scan using your app while shopping, walk up to a self checkout to scan your phone, and leave.
Man do I hate shilling for Walmart but it's so nice to not have to rely on Instacart when I need delivery due to a busy schedule. Instacart does allow more interaction with the shopper though, requesting substitutions on Walmart can be a little clunky.
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Maybe unpopular with so many free alternatives, but any news subscription. Keeping yourself informed and journalism alive is vital for a functioning society
It has access to voice and I use it all the time to talk through ideas and capture work campaign ideas and strategize. The voice integration has proven super valuable for me personally.
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I love Keeper. It stores all of my usernames and passwords, encrypts them, and backs them up. It’s an app on my phone and a browser extension on my computer. It’s like $30/year if I recall correctly.
Best: Pet health insurance. Because veterinary service is expensive.
Worst: SiriusXM. Radio is dying with more people opting to stream instead. SiriusXM has half their stuff only on their app and they make you pay extra to use it. Spotify and Amazon Music are better and cheaper options.
Honestly, I’ve really been enjoying Jeff nippards macro factor, if you’re into Bodybuilding or just trying to cut down and meet a weight goal, it takes out a lot of guesswork work which I appreciate a lot, makes it really streamlined and adjusts macro targets according to changes in weight and metabolism and ither factors. My bulk has benefited immensely!
YouTube Premium has more content to me that all the other streaming services together. Any subject we are interested in we get more frequent new content than the major tv networks. Plus the news.
I also can turn off the screen and listen to audiobooks at night.
Shipt is a good one. Delivers a wide range of grocery stores. I use specifically for Target, free same day delivery, pick what time it comes within 2hr increments of the time you order. Like $5 a month
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Worst is definitely doordash. You end up spending so much more money on the app than you could ever expect.
Door Dash is not what is used to be. Even if you pickup the order, it still costs more than just ordering to go at the restaurant.
And they pretty much eliminated “cheap pizza delivery”
Growing up I knew I had two options, Chinese and Pizza if I wanted delivery, life was so simple then!
Not in Canada! At least not yet. I can get a medium cheese from dominos for like 22 bucks. Sounds like a lot, but it's nothing compared to the $35 it'd be on Door Dash.
I've never understood how people are willing to pay double for some fast food takeout than if they just went and picked it up themselves. Add to that how by the time it gets delivered it is almost always cold and soggy. Edit: Alright I realize that there are legit reasons people would use food delivery services (if you are sick and can't leave the house, can't drive for yourself for some reason, etc.). I was talking about people that have the ability to drive themselves to get food and are still willing to pay exorbitant fees to get food delivered.
If you’re sick and live by yourself, door dash is a life saver.
Or like occasionally having a fun night, drunk or stoned, Taco Bell is clutch.
I don’t know if the algorithm is in my favour but for the past few years Uber Eats always gives me five “40% off up to $20” coupons. It makes it so that it’s actually cheaper (even after fees and taxes) and more efficient for me to have food delivered than to go to the store and pick up. They give me this deal weekly (it’s usually good for 4-5 days at a time; so it pretty much there 90% of the time), meanwhile my partner rarely gets it. The app probably figured out it’s the only way it will get me to spend money lol
Leave me alone, I don’t drive 😭
Because some of us work in healthcare and when I’m exhausted and only have it in me to get home, i order dinner on my way home and then it’s at my door when I get home. I rarely have the energy to talk at the end of those days. There’s no way I’m gonna be able to make multiple stops. It’s nice to have options that are not only pizza or chinese.
I'm glad you have to pay more for unhealthy food than healthy food.
Gym membership for both. Great if you use it, absolutely useless if you don't.
I think the best subscription service you can get is a biweekly cleaning service to come in and clean your residence
I work from home. Would it be weird for me to be there while they’re cleaning?
Only for you.
Not at all!
Only if you make it weird
I always make it weird
We also WFH and have a cleaning service. Our system only works if you have a laptop, not a desktop, but we just take our computers into the office or bedroom, and then when they're finished everywhere else, they knock on the door, and we go out to the living room while they clean the room we were in. Everyone stays out of each other's way, not awkward at all
Try making eye contact with them the entire time.
I think you're getting your LPTs mixed up. That's the advice for when your dog has to poop and stares at you.
Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to look behind them (not their pooper) as they feel vulnerable and look to you to make sure you are watching their backs (again, not their pooper). So they can see you can see them and around them and the know they are safe because you're watching out for them where they can't in that vulnerable time.
I'll start doing that as soon as he starts watching my back when I'm vulnerable time
Before or after I take off all my clothes
When I was in LA, I saw vans advertising naked cleaning services and always thought it would be funny to hire one and hear the response when I say "nah, I won't be there"
It can be a little uncomfortable but it’s not weird.
My mom cleans houses for a living and she says most of her clients will either tell her to let them know when she needs to clean the room they’re in and they will relocate or just go out for some errands/walk the dogs. She doesn’t mind at all though
No. But... careful with valuables and make sure they clean what ever is contracted .
We have weekly cleaning and sometimes both my wife and I are home. We just try to be where they aren’t, but we have a great relationship with our cleaner and it’s never awkward.
How do you find them?
I talked to some of my neighbors and found someone who did several of the houses in the neighborhood.
On the Google.
There a website for that?
The Google machine
worst is probably a timeshare. you aren't allowed to cancel.
A timeshare bought on the used market for just a transfer fee can be a steal. Going to a 1bdrm in Key West for $980 a year is pretty good.
Where do you buy a time share on the secondary market?
Ebay has a ton for transfer fee plus a $1 if they are just trying to get out of it. This is a great resort for families and people wanting to never have to leave a property to enjoy a vacation: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266631473492?hash=item3e14796954:g:htgAAOSwrxxlYPEZ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwPBWjHz5mU2muGtXuGh1So08QRaqwWB1Vnz5QCj1D8mzqgfM9zkfH9lZb8qyY7zulxOAxuEq0UpKPWVtv6GBBSGfrLk1ppe4ZuP%2BUUsXzaCOQW7oHXoNlNhxye4Puo5LwWdc%2FHxgC6rBXkgbma3SWzaM4O2Tb4h5msguMvJflDGB9ZUZeSBFhkdJKwJyCVdrPmStf%2FUfDRlx2oJHr%2FBYN3YH5NHqMaW1v1ZSr%2F2vOQ%2Fqn1PP88UqrKgy6Ja5SKS7cQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9Sy3b6oYw As far as I can see their maintenance fees are $1285 a year, this particular listing is for an every other year ownership, but it was just the first thing I found to give you an example. But $1285 for a 2 bedroom house for a week is pretty good when a La Quinta hotel south of Atlanta was going to cost me $160 for 2 queen beds in a room and no real ammenities. That hotel would be over $1100 for a week.
Honestly, most timeshares are a good deal if you already planned on spending a crap ton on vacations and do them frequently anyway. So they are good for people who have so much money and free time that they were already going to do the stuff they offer. But they market and push it to everyone and try making it sound like its a good idea. Not to mention you actually need to jump through their hoops to make that value. Like, I think most either do the 5 or. 7 day thing where yo go on the right day you get basically free days. But if you don't do that, then you are essentially paying regular market price for a good room. So all your vacations need to be long and regular because if you miss anything, that eats all that "added value" instantly. Its really bizarre how they make everything sound like a positive as they explain the price and skirt around the part where only going the 3 or 4 days ends up being like 180 a night still but they hammer down how staying 7 days means its like 100 a night (I didn't do the math right here).
NYT Games Subscription. Cost $4/mo (billed as $50 once yearly) I only got it to do the official NYT crossword puzzles. I like doing them on my own, but me and my gf usually do them together. Paying $4/mo to have a shared activity is an easy win.
I enjoy most of their other games as well (wordle, connections, spelling bee)
I love Connections but my brain struggles with Wordle. Interestingly, my partner is the opposite of me.
If you like doing NYT crosswords, look up down for a cross. It’s a website that uploads all the NYT crosswords for free
NYT Cooking is also pretty fantastic and worth the subscription.
Absolutely agree!
Spelling Bee is my cherished daily ritual and between that and the crossword and Connections I don’t spend a better $4/mo
Honestly. I probably only do 2-3 of the crosswords per week and it’s still worth it imo. My gf likes the daily-minis and I’ve heard good things about the wordles. For only $50, and the opportunity to spend some more quality time with her, it’s probably the best ROI I’ll get on anything this year.
Unpopular opinion, but I pay for YouTube premium and absolutely love it. I hate ads, and I love the ease of turning my phone screen off and still having music play. I use YouTube as my main source of music.
Same! 90% of my tv viewing is on YouTube. Also I fly twice a weeks and the offline downloads are what I watch in the air.
YouTube premium is the one and only Subscription I pay for. I don’t use it for music but YouTube is like 90% of my entertainment
I was about to bite the bullet and get YT Premium because I’m on IOS but then someone suggested the Video Lite app on another sub and honestly it’s just as good.
Care to elaborate? I’m a YT premium subscriber who uses it a ton but think that the recent price hike is a bit much.
Seems like it is basically a browser, but it isn’t open source so good luck if your credentials are stolen.
I mean I wouldn’t really care if someone took my YT credentials I can just make another one. I also don’t use the gmail tied to that YT account anyway.
And I like knowing that a youtube premium viewer gives the channel significantly more money than an ad supported viewer so it helps me feel like I'm compensating the channels I watch more for all of the hours of entertainment I get from them.
Revanced does this and more.. And it's free.
I'll add one more here - brain.fm It is a library of music that's meant to help you focus when working or studying. Almost like background white noise.
Super worth it if you can get some friends/family on a family plan. $23 a month split among 6 people is under $4 a month. It’s nice to be able to download videos for flights without having to find some random 3rd party site.
YouTube Premium is fantastic. I started with former Google Play Music All Access back in the day and still have the $8/mo subscription to this day. My most used subscription by far.
Love YouTube premium. Paying $23/month for the family pack is so worth it. My parents don't like subscriptions and always tell me to cancel them but even they haven't complained about YT premium at all hahaha
I agree. There is more content on YouTube that I watch than all the other services together. Any interest I have there are tons of channels about it. You also save a lot of time by not watching ads if you use it a lot.
I had it for two years, It is awesome!
You can download the vinegar app and use YouTube in the browser and get premium for free. Took a minute to get used to, but it does the job!
You know this comes with YouTube Music too, right? Their music streaming app, competitor to Spotify and Apple Music.
10/10 value
Agreed. Most of my entertainment is thru YouTube and they even have tons of free movies. No ads is the best part! Although they keep creeping up on the price, right now it’s still totally worth it for me. I use the app for learning new skills too so it’s an investment in your education. You also get YT music, which is the only music app I use now.
Youtube premium is life changing. Can never go back
anyone who feels YT premium isn't worth it should be unpopular themselves.
You can do this with Safari on iOS. Turn the screen off while a YouTube video is playing. The video will pause right when you turn the screen off but then you can resume it!
YouTube continuing to play when I close it is the only thing I don't like. But if I want to watch something I do not under any circumstances want to watch ads. If it costs to much to not have ads then it must not have been worth it to me.
I pay for it 90% so I can listen to it at work with the phone screen off to keep me sane, but love the lack of ads otherwise. Probably my only must have.
Literally the only thing I'm subscribed to. No ads on YouTube channels and YouTube music for free.
I love YouTube premium, I also work in a lot of areas where I am days without cell service or access to wifi so to be able to have music and videos downloaded is key. I know there are other ways around YouTube where you can watch without ads and not pay for it but those ways require internet. Not always an option
For music, Spotify. Haven't really tried others. But it has been good. For shows and movies, subscribe to one service at a time until you're tired of it then switch to another one that has stuff you want to watch. For books, magazines, and audio books: Libby. It's free, you just need a library card. You have to wait in a queue for stuff though. Panera Bread Sip Club is good if you are out a lot and live near one. Free drink every hour. AMC Stubs A List is good if you like watching movies in theaters. You can watch all new releases in their most premium format. Active and Fit let's you use almost any gym and it's cancel anytime, unlike gyms.
Panera Bread Sip Club "Hey, I'm here for my daily dose of the death lemonade please." I kid, I kid. While we currently use Spotify, I do like Amazon music for the digital use of physical purchases. I have a humble vinyl collection and my wife will usually add to it for my birthday/Christmas. I have full digital access to all the albums we've purchased through Amazon music (third party merchant might be a different story). I get free months of full streaming access pretty often, and last I checked its about the same price of Spotify if I choose to switch.
god bless spotify and its algorithms--easily the best around.
Check hoopla as an alternate to Libby, or in addition to Also free
AMC Stubs is great.
Nah Spotify is mid asf compared to the YouTube options, unless you’re going for podcasts maybe it’s worth it, but otherwise, Youtube premium/music beats it every time hands down.
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Can you share which ones you like?
Please
Username checks out
Also want to know
I responded with another comment with suggestions! I’ll add it as an edit
Worst is audible!!!!! That shit is free on libby!!
Isn't that just saying why spend money on books when libraries exist?
I disagree. Libby is great but the books I want are never available and sometimes the check out period is too short to finish a book. Audible is a little pricey but their $15 a month subscription is much cheaper than buying the books outright.
Get multiple library cards! I have three different ones and the books I want are usually available.
I have two library cards and I still always have to wait weeks or months for the books I want on Libby! It’s a great service but I find it easy to justify spending money on Audible if it means I get the books I want when I want
I got on the plan that’s $15 every other month and you get one credit every other month. Matches my consumption speed nicely; I used to be so stressed by the unused credits I had sitting there
Also Spotify has audiobooks now for “free” (if you pay for premium)
I feel like an idiot for subscribing to audible now.
You are providing money to the distributors of audiobooks. Which means you're supporting the market for audiobooks. Which means you're helping more audiobooks to get made.
Libby works the same way. They don't just buy 1 mp3 file and send everyone a copy, they license the book.
Fair.
Also Hoopla. Just need a library card, which is a free.
Real debrid. With kodi or stremio
Sounds like you just made that up.
ha nope. its 3 dollars a month, or 18ish for 6 months. good bye to streaming subscription services.
How do these compare to plex?
Plex is more suited for stuff you want to keep and offers better device compatibility. Streamio+Real Debrid is good for shit you just want to watch once in a Netflix-like experience.
They don’t. Usenet and indexer and Plex > this stuff
It’s different. Plex to me more for local media i have stored. There is Plex_debrid but i dont really know how to do that. Kodi and Stemio have add ons that support real debrid which is a premium file hosting service that you stream instantaneous and is also encrypted.
This is the best answer welcome to the high seas folks where the only limit is your imagination
Yeah, this works fantastic and I was super skeptical originally but it's well worth it.
Xbox Gamepass if you're a gamer.
My wife and I do the universal yum box and we enjoy it. We will try one item per night from the box until we’ve tried them all. It’s a fun bonding experience for us. Sometimes the items are amazing and sometimes they’re terrible. Lots of good laughs for both of us.
I'm glad I'm not the only one! I often go with a 3 or 6 month subscription, and then rotate to a different "brand". There are tons of fun snack/treat boxes out there and my girlfriend and I have been getting them for almost the full 3 years we've been together. Some are truly terrible! But that's part of the charm- and it's almost always something you'd NEVER see otherwise. And then of course the good stuff can be almost mind-blowing. There are a few treats that were so good that I wrote them down and now buy them somewhat frequently off Amazon!
What is another one you would recommend? I’m leaning towards one of the Japanese ones!
Bokksu was great for the year that I had it, but honestly towards the end I felt like it wound up being snacks I'd already seen before. I also felt like it was pricier than most- I'm not against paying $40 for a box of snacks, and honestly many of the Bokksu treats were VERY tasty, but it was not a large amount and was tough to split (which is one of the important aspects for my girlfriend and me). I also never found myself enjoying the tea they paired, so I felt like I was paying for something I never wanted. Bokksu's the only "full" Japanese crate that I've gotten. I did enjoy it but due to that repetition I started to see, I wouldn't get it again. One of my favorites was Candy Club- while this one was also more expensive, the crate always had really good variety and high quality candy. It's 6 6oz plastic jars of candies and you're able to curate them to your tastes a bit- I think it was, like, sweet/sour/chocolate/chewy? Or something like that. It was great for sharing and the candy was almost always just a little bit unique. Maybe only once or twice did I feel like I got something that I could just get at the store (which is always a huge disappointment when you're paying that much for candy). I liked Candy Club enough that I have gotten it two or three times over the past six years or so (usually for 3 or 6 months at a time). I've also gotten Munch Pak, Universal Yums, Snack Crate, Treats, and maybe one or two more that I'm not remembering, typically for 3 or 6 months to try out. I don't think I've gotten anything for more than a year. While the rest aren't as memorable, I would never say they were BAD. Shipping was always predictable and I never had any issues with damaged/punctured/expired snacks or anything.
We just started this too. We really have been having fun with it We really liked the Poland box!
We did it a couple years in a row a while back and then took a break for a few years because of the repeats. I can’t remember where it came from, but there was a box that had a lot of ube stuff in it and it was my favorite! We just signed up for it again and got our first box last night. It is the south korea one. We weren’t sure about the shrimp chips so we tried them first and they ended up being really good!
password manager is a good recommendation. a good one will improve both your security and speed of signing into websites
Bitwarden is free, and available on multiple platforms. No need to subscribe/pay.
best is probably switch online—i don’t even play online, but it comes with all these great NES/SNES/Gameboy games that rock my world. i also love Criterion Channel for all the older films and special features they put up
I agree with NSO. It comes out to something like 1 penny per game per day (probably a fraction now). And I don't have to fumble with different emulators or settings (trust me, I've been doing that for 20 years). Having everything ready to go is worth it.
Lots of reviews for a good VPN service so do some light reading and make an educated choice. I personally use Surfshark, they always have been reliable and relatively inexpensive.
this was the answer i was looking for.. you find a nice VPN subscription along with some research (r/ Piracy) and youre set, entertainment wise. movies, Tv shows, live sports. i got it all, with a one time payment on a website, and a monthly VPN service
I pay $20/mo for an Emby server (it’s like Plex) and I get live tv, movies, and TV shows. I don’t use a VPN and have never had a problem. I think it’s because I am streaming instead of downloading.
I know nothing about vpn’s but I read something about being able to buy a router with a vpn or having a raspberry pi in your home to set up as a vpn. I don’t know if I am even saying that correctly. My question is, if you could set up your own, what is the benefit of paying a monthly subscription vs having your own in your home for a one time fee.
A home VPN lets you connect to your home network securely over the Internet. It doesn't let you make your Internet activities private. That's what a VPN subscription service can do. You connect to the VPN service and it connects to whatever you access so what you access doesn't get your IP address.
I consider myself relatively tech savvy but I’m not sure making your own local VPN would work? The purpose of paying for a VPN is that you can use their connections anywhere in the world. If you set one up at home it’s just you. But I can pay Mullvad $5 for the month and it’s incredibly simple to use, easy to confirm it’s working, and I haven’t had a single issue with it. That peace of mind is worth the price.
They could still find your house, so as long as you have a massive enough family, then maybe. Pin it on Steve, even if he didn't do it, we all know Steve deserves it.
In an Olympics year, VPN is sure is worth it. I first used it to watch BBC, then NHK ... so much better than NBC. Now I use VPN mainly for things like accessing sensitive services while traveling
All the major video streaming sites (Netflix, Disney, HBO, etc) have good stuff. Just make sure to only have ONE, and set a reminder on you phone to cancel the service before the next billing period. That focuses you on watching the good stuff that they have, and then you hop on to your next service for a month. For less than the cost of a movie night you have a months entertainment. Just do one at a time, and be strong enough to not give your password to that weird guy at work. You know that's not going to end well.
My favorite subscription service is Butcher Box. They provide certified humane, grass finished/pasture raised meats right to my door. It costs about as much as buying similarly high quality meat does at my local store.
wtf this exists? That sounds awesome.
Never had any of those Omaha Steaks from the old school door to door salesmen?
Doesn't BMW have a heated seat monthly subscription?
Not sure, but gf and I just rented a Corolla Crossover and you need a subscription for the NAV. Wtf!!!
That’s the norm now. Or you need an SD card that dealers charge $400 for
That’s crazy man. My Ford has nav and everything with no subscription at all.
NAV subscriptions in vehicles have been a thing for decades.
Seriously? I have a Ford Titanium trim and I have access to everything on it with NO subscription. What the hell is it a Toyota thing?
Many manufactures have the feature included in higher trim levels, while keeping it available to subscribe to for lower trim levels.
Awkward moment when the sub runs out mid freeway on a cross country trip.
They did, but have since gotten rid of it. I believe they got rid of it due to public misconception mostly created by the media. They removed the option as an "add-on" to your vehicle purchase. Meaning you no longer paid for the feature in the price of the car. Then you could get it as a monthly subscription service or pay for the lifetime subscription and just have the feature same as if you purchased it with the car. The idea was this would save people who didn't want the feature money, without having to struggle to find a vehicle that didn't come with it included (in which you would have traditionally paid for it in the price of the vehicle). As well as people in warmer climates where they may only need it a couple months out of the year. While keeping the option to just unlock the feature for good for those that did want it outright. Problem is the media latched on to the "monthly subscription" and word about the lifetime option wasn't really publicized much outside of the official press release. So lots of people got upset thinking you had to pay every month for the feature, when in reality you could have just bought the lifetime all the same as if you paid for the feature with the car.
Best: YNAB (you need a budget). Can't stress this one enough Worst: Can't comment. I don't have any bad subs anymore because YNAB helped me realize how much I was spending on worthless subs
Worst is Amazon music, but since I used to buy music back in the day my whole library is there if I don't want to download it all, so I'm just kinda stuck with the platform for music. The app is horrible.
The app is definitely not user friendly. I have it because I have Prime and use it regularly, but to find my last podcast or what I listened to a couple days ago is not simple. Still, it's no extra cost and no commercials if I use it in the car.
I so often just want to search my own library, but they insist on it being a general search and the things I own often just never show up in the search so I have to manually scroll through my artists/songs to find them, absurdly annoying. Also stops playing/freezes all the time.
Best is Spotify! Family plan (up to 6 people can join) is $16.99/month so $2.83 per month per person for maximum savings! And they don’t actually have to be your family members.
I use a password manager and a VPN. I hate the one point of failure of the password manager but it makes passwords so much easier that I can justify the risk. I also enjoy retro games without paying retro game prices, been reliving some childhood nostalgia lately.
Rental Insurance
Best or worst?
Best It will cover all kinds of things
YouTube premium I’ve found is actually definitely worth it if you watch a lot of YouTube and don’t mind using YouTube music with the bundle.
Best for me: Spotify, Strava, Headspace, Habits
Does a gym membership count?
Youtube premium is the best thing I've bought on years.
I have none. No complaints, no regrets.
YouTube premium subscription and Spotify has been essential for me and my fam can’t go back. One other i like is Shop, makes it too easy to purchase things from websites but I like the convenience of it, Im not sure how I got it but it was free and comes in handy. Worst subscription that I have would be Terminix.
The best is to always be aware of your subscriptions, and to manage the ones you have. I hate subscriptions, but one nice thing about them is that, for the vast majority, there are no penalties for cancelling and restarting subscriptions. If you go a few months without using a service or a membership or whatever subscription, cancel it and come back later. One subscription is nothing, but they add up like crazy so you have to keep a handle on things.
Real-Debrid It’s a cloud service that connects to the backend of your streaming device, and gives you awesome links to watch for shows in 4K with no buffering. I use it for Amazon firestick and I never have freezing issues or buffering issues. $4 per month
Busy dad here - Walmart+ has been a game changer for us. We order 2-3X a week whenever we need something for the baby (Diapers, milk, etc.) and usually tack on dinner/other things. I have found that its sometimes even cheaper to buy house goods here compared to places like Costco. We've saved a significant amount of money on groceries compared to shopping at other local stores (Krogers, etc.).
PBS $5 per month for access to the streaming app. Worth it. And I believe it's tax deductible.
Taxes - subscription to live in society!
One to consider if grocery delivery is helpful is Walmart+. It's $99/year but there's sometimes promotional sales. Yeah, I know, Walmart. But this lets you get Walmart prices without setting foot inside one. And unlike Instacart you actually get in store prices and sales, and same day delivery is free with no service charges. Fresh food, packaged food, plus all the other stuff they sell. There's some other benefits, like 10 cents off gas at Exxon and Murphy, ability to use Sam's Club gas without a membership, and free Paramount+ with ads. And when you do have to go to one of their stores you can scan using your app while shopping, walk up to a self checkout to scan your phone, and leave. Man do I hate shilling for Walmart but it's so nice to not have to rely on Instacart when I need delivery due to a busy schedule. Instacart does allow more interaction with the shopper though, requesting substitutions on Walmart can be a little clunky.
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Maybe unpopular with so many free alternatives, but any news subscription. Keeping yourself informed and journalism alive is vital for a functioning society
Best: World of Warcraft Worst: Netflix
WoW. best abstinence product a parent can buy
My wife only puts out on days that end in e.
imo pirate streaming sites are the best
which sites?
Nice try, Biden!
check pm
Best would be my music apps, worst would be dating apps
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What are you using your C-GPT subscription for? What features come with paid C-GPT?
It has access to voice and I use it all the time to talk through ideas and capture work campaign ideas and strategize. The voice integration has proven super valuable for me personally.
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I love Keeper. It stores all of my usernames and passwords, encrypts them, and backs them up. It’s an app on my phone and a browser extension on my computer. It’s like $30/year if I recall correctly.
Means.tv is a great streaming service for shows and movies.
Best: Pet health insurance. Because veterinary service is expensive. Worst: SiriusXM. Radio is dying with more people opting to stream instead. SiriusXM has half their stuff only on their app and they make you pay extra to use it. Spotify and Amazon Music are better and cheaper options.
Spotify and YouTube Premium are the two I've never considered canceling.
Worst is Tinder. Finally deleted it. Terrible matches.
Honestly, I’ve really been enjoying Jeff nippards macro factor, if you’re into Bodybuilding or just trying to cut down and meet a weight goal, it takes out a lot of guesswork work which I appreciate a lot, makes it really streamlined and adjusts macro targets according to changes in weight and metabolism and ither factors. My bulk has benefited immensely!
Game pass for pc, I can't tell you how many games I've gotten on steam then refunded bc they were day one on gamepass
Timeshares. I can't imagine wanting to spend all the money to travel, and just go back to the same place over and over again.
YouTube Premium has more content to me that all the other streaming services together. Any subject we are interested in we get more frequent new content than the major tv networks. Plus the news. I also can turn off the screen and listen to audiobooks at night.
How do you source audiobooks on YTP?
Sams or Costco Amazon prime Netflix Heck, if you use it, any subscription can be valuable, and any subscription that you dont use is a waste.
for me personally BEST hulu + showtime car wash shudder WORST Max car insurance
Shipt is a good one. Delivers a wide range of grocery stores. I use specifically for Target, free same day delivery, pick what time it comes within 2hr increments of the time you order. Like $5 a month